Fever-Tree Ginger Beer
Fever-Tree’s ginger mixer, built on a blend of three gingers from Nigeria, Cochin and the Ivory Coast. It is a carbonated soft drink containing ginger root rather than a fermented brew, and it carries its heat long rather than sharp.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Bright ginger aroma with gentle heat, rounded sweetness, and lively carbonation. Heat builds lightly but does not linger aggressively.
Storage & Handling
Keep unopened bottles cool and chill before use. Carbonation is the ingredient, so an opened bottle is worth finishing rather than resealing, and a 200ml serve exists precisely so nothing is left over.
Shelf Life
Unopened: 6–12 months. Opened: Use immediately for best carbonation
Usage
A 200ml bottle tops one drink cleanly, which is the size to buy for a Moscow Mule or a Dark ’n’ Stormy. Pour it over plenty of ice at the end of the build, and keep the 500ml for a round rather than for a single glass.
Three Gingers
The blend is the claim Fever-Tree makes about this bottle, and it is specific enough to check. Nigerian ginger supplies the deep, intense end of it. Cochin ginger from India brings warmth and spice. Green ginger from the Ivory Coast adds a lemongrass freshness over the top. Whether a drinker can pick the three apart in a Mule is another question, but the effect is a heat that builds and holds rather than one that arrives and vanishes, which is the practical difference between this and a cheap ginger mixer that fronts everything and then disappears under the spirit.
What Brewed Means Here
Fever-Tree describe this as brewed, and the ingredients are carbonated spring water, sugar, ginger root, natural ginger flavouring, tartaric acid and ascorbic acid. Nothing in that list ferments, so brewing here means the root steeped and extracted rather than anything fermented, in the sense that tea is brewed. The distinction matters because the word carries a second meaning in this category, where a traditional ginger beer was genuinely fermented and a few still are. The acid is the detail worth noticing: tartaric acid is the acid of grapes and a less common choice than the citric acid most soft drinks use, and it reads rounder and less sharp, which suits a mixer meant to sit under a spirit.
Sugar, Size and the Light Version
The standard bottle carries 7.9 grams of sugar per 100ml, so a 200ml serve puts close to 16 grams into a drink before the spirit arrives. That is unremarkable for the category and worth knowing when balancing, because a Mule built on it needs no sweetening at all and usually needs more lime than the recipe says. The Refreshingly Light version uses fructose instead and roughly halves the sugar, at 4.6 grams per 100ml. It reads thinner and cleaner, which suits a long drink and leaves a short one wanting body.
In the Glass
Cold, last, and over a full glass of ice. Ginger beer poured into a half-iced glass warms and flattens quickly, and a flat mixer takes the drink with it. The 200ml bottle exists because that is one drink, and it stays lively where a large bottle opened and returned to the fridge does not. Bottles come in 200ml, in four-packs of 200ml, and in 500ml. Match the size to the number of drinks rather than to the price per litre, because carbonation lost is the whole ingredient lost.
Pro Tip
Good ginger beer should warm the drink, not overpower it.
Top Tips
- Buy the 200ml for a single drink. An opened 500ml is flat before the second round.
- Add more lime than the recipe suggests. At 7.9 grams of sugar per 100ml, the bottle sweetens the drink for you.
- Fill the glass with ice before pouring. Warm ginger beer goes flat and takes the drink down with it.
Possible Substitutions
- Ginger ale (sweeter, less spicy)
- Fresh ginger syrup + soda water
- Sparkling water with ginger tincture
Production Method
Produced by carbonating water and flavouring with ginger extract or juice, sugar, and natural flavourings. Modern versions are not fermented.
History & Context
Ginger beer originated in the UK as a lightly fermented drink in the 18th century. Modern non-alcoholic versions became popular as cocktail mixers, prized for their balance of sweetness and spice.
Common Questions
Ginger beer versus ginger ale?
This is the ginger beer end: cloudy, hot and built to survive a spirit. Fever-Tree’s ginger ale is the lighter, clearer drink and carries the flavour of ginger without the burn. Used in a Mule, the ale gives a mild drink rather than a weak one.
Which drinks need ginger beer?
The Moscow Mule and the Dark ’n’ Stormy are the two it exists for, and Fever-Tree names both. It also lengthens a rum highball, and it works alongside a heavily peated whisky, where the ginger has enough weight to meet the smoke rather than being flattened by it.
Why is it cloudy?
Ginger root is in the bottle and does not fully dissolve, so fine particulate stays in suspension and settles if it stands. That is the cloudiness, and it indicates real root rather than fermentation, because the ingredients carry no ferment of any kind.
Is the Refreshingly Light the same drink?
No. The Light version swaps sugar for fructose and runs at roughly half the sugar, 4.6 grams per 100ml against 7.9. It reads cleaner and thinner, which suits a long drink and leaves a short one lacking the body the standard bottle would have given it.